Phantasm (1979) is one of the most imaginative, scariest horror/science-fiction films ever made. From the mind of genius Don Coscarelli, this film is the first in the Phantasm series. It also started another horror icon: the Tall Man. Phantasm starts off like this:<br /><br />Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) has just lost his parents to death. He now lives with his older brother Jody (Bill Thornbury), who's thinking about leaving Mike with a relative and leaving their small town. Mike, not wanting to lose his brother follows him wherever he goes. He even follows Jody to a funeral where he witnesses a caretaker only known as the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) carry a huge coffin away from the graveyard. Startled, Mike begins to investigate at night by breaking into Morningside Cemetary only to witness a horrific murder by a flying silver sphere. Now, with zombies and cloaked dwarfs chasing him everywhere, Mike and Jody enlist the help of ice-cream vendor Reggie (Reggie Bannister) to fight the Tall Man and find out what secrets he keeps within the mortuary.<br /><br />This film, in all of it's aspects, is perfect. Since this movie was made in 1979, the gore effects look more realistic than anything you'll see in modern horror. It just goes to show you that you don't need CGI to make a film look realistic. The story is well-written. The shocking ending is just great. The editing is okay and the direction is expertly. Even the actors all do their best work here.<br /><br />So if you want to see a scary science-fiction/horror with great gore effects and an even better story, see Phantasm. Also, the sequels aren't so bad themselves. I give Phantasm a 10 out of 10.